Throughout each quarter, we collect various accomplishments—from awards and appearances to publications and presentations and more—from Pritzker students to highlight and promote their outstanding work to the rest of the community.
Submit your own achievements for our next quarterly round up of student accomplishments through this page.
If you have an upcoming event, such as a media appearance or panel discussion, submit the information in advance so we might be able to help promote your participation in the event. You can also submit your peers' accomplishments, though we will seek their permission before publishing or promoting them.
Spring 2023 Student Accomplishments:
Murrie Affini, MS4, will give an oral presentation on how otolaryngologists can and should increase community and global outreach in the post-COVID era with the Harry Barnes Medical Society at the National Medical Association Conference in New Orleans in July. He was mentored on this project by Brandon Baird, MD.
Santiago Avila, MS4, won the UChicago Grad Diversity Advisory Board’s Georgiana Simpson Research Award for his research on Spanish language educational resources in cancer treatment and language concordance in medicine.
Alexandra Beem, MS1, published an op-ed entitled “Binary medicine harms our gender-expansive patients” on KevinMD.com highlighting research she did during her gap year before medical school. Read the piece here.
Alexis Cacioppo, MS3, was named a finalist for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program to the Philippines, where she plans to conduct qualitative research examining the effects of recent mental health legislation on sociocultural and systemic barriers to mental health care from the perspective of Filipino mental health clinicians.
David Deshpande, MS1, published a reflective essay entitled “The Young Person’s Guide to Empathy” in Sensible Medicine. Read the full essay here.
Sarita Deshpande, MSTP, published a paper in Nature Scientific Reports entitled “Third-order motifs are sufficient to fully and uniquely characterize spatiotemporal neural network activity.” The research, mentored by Wim van Drongelen, PhD, presented a novel approach to characterizing neural network activity, using third order (triple) correlation. Review the full paper here.
Symhpony Fletcher, MS3, received the inaugural Stride Scholarship from the Black Girl White Coat organization. The scholarship was awarded based on her demonstrated interest in and dedication to health equity focused research and community enrichment focused projects, including violence prevention programs and education pipeline programs.
Andrea Gomez, MS1, presented a flash talk and poster presentation on her research “How do Medical School Experiences Differ between Students from Low- vs Higher-SES Backgrounds? A Multicenter U.S. Survey Study” at University of Chicago Pediatrics Research Day. She was mentored on the project by Lolita Alkureishi, MD.
Dima Kenj Halabi, MS1, received a fellowship grant for her research project entitled “FAM TECH Survey: Family Assessment of Managing Technology-based Education for Chronic Health Conditions Survey,” which she will conduct under the mentorship of Valerie Press, MD.
Grace Hansen, MS4, published a paper in Nature Genetics entitled “Genetics of sexually dimorphic adipose distribution in humans.” The paper identified “genes and regulatory mechanisms that underlie female-specific adipose distribution and mediate metabolic dysfunction in women.” She was mentored on the project by Marcelo Nóbrega, PhD.
Alonzo Jones, MS4, was accepted as a Physician Administrative Fellow at Loyola University Medical Center. The 10-week fellowship will allow him to work directly with the Chief Medical Officer at Loyola and rotate through various administrative departments to gain hands-on experience working as a hospital administrator.
Taytum Kahl, MS1, published an op-ed entitled “Over-the-Counter Naloxone: A Solution to the Climbing Death Rate from Opioid Overdoses Among Women” in Ms. Magazine, highlighting the life-saving potential for women of the FDA’s decision to allow over the counter sales of NARCAN nasal spray to reverse opioid overdoses. Read the full piece here.
Kevin Lazenby, MS4, was selected as a 2023 Medical Fellow for the prestigious Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE) program. The program, which takes place for two weeks in Berlin and Poland this summer, challenges its Fellows to recognize their responsibility to act as ethical leaders in their medical careers
Nicholas McKenzie, MS4, had a first-author paper entitled “A Multisite Survey of Pediatric Hospitalists' Practices in Soliciting Feedback From Trainees” accepted for publication in Hospital Pediatrics. The project was part of his Calvin Fentress Research Fellowship, and he was mentored on the project by H. Barrett Fromme, MD.
Allison Mobley, MS4, will present her research “Prescribing methadone before release from prison predicts linkage to HIV care among incarcerated men with HIV and opioid use disorder following release from prison in Malaysia” as an e-poster presentation at the International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference in Brisbane, Australia in July. This research originated in her NIH Fogarty Global Health Equity Scholars Research Fellowship at the University of Malaya under the mentorship of Adeeba Kamarulzama, MBBS and Frederick Altice, MD, MA, and Sheela Shenoi, MD, MPH, both of Yale University.
Rimel Mwamba, MS3, was awarded the Dr. Gregory Primus Scholarship for Orthopedics by the Cook County Physicians Association and the Furthering Diversity Award by the UChicago Grad Diversity Advisory Board. Rimel also presented her research “Robot-assisted laparoscopic surgeries: current use in pediatric urology patients” at the annual American Medical Education Conference (AMEC) in Hartford, CT. In October, she will present her research “The Effects of Area Level Deprivation On The Severity of Cubital Tunnel Syndrome On Presentation to a Hand Surgeon” as an oral presentation at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress.
Evan Neczypor, MS3, received the Brigid Leventhal Special Merit Award for having the highest ranking abstract at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in pediatric oncology among students, residents, and fellows. He will present his research as a poster presentation at the ASCO meeting in Chicago in June.
Nihar Rama, MS1, had a paper entitled “Ultra-High Dose-Rate Proton FLASH Improves Tumor Control” accepted for publication in Radiotherapy and Oncology. The project was based on research he conducted as an undergraduate.
Sid Ramesh, MS4, will present his Burroughs Wellcome Fund research project as an oral presentation at ASCO Breakthrough in Japan in August.
Sara Saheb Kashaf, MS4, published a paper in Cell & Host Microbe entitled “Staphylococcal diversity in atopic dermatitis from an individual to a global scale.” Review the full paper here. The paper, including “findings [that] further our understanding of disease pathogenesis and potential treatments,” was highlighted further here.
Neil Sheth, MS3, presented two research projects at the 2023 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Technologies for Sustainability (SusTech) entitled “A Precision Public Health Study on the Divergence of Life Expectancies Over Time in United States Counties” and “The Community Human Development Index (CHDI) as a Precision Public Health Vulnerability Metric and Risk Indicator for Predictive Analytics.”
Lauren Sheu, MS1, published a paper in Cancer Cell entitled “Neutrophil-activating therapy for the treatment of cancer” based on research conducted at Stanford University in high school. Read the paper here.
Maggie Shope, MS4, received the Association of Pediatric Program Directors' Trainee Research Award for her oral presentation, “A Need for Time and Training: Pediatric Program Directors’ Perceptions about Mentorship,” at the APPD Annual Spring Meeting. She was mentored on the project by conducted under the mentorship of Nicola Orlov, MD, H. Barrett Fromme, MD, and Sarah Gustafson, MD.
Armaan Singh, MS3, published a paper entitled “Evaluation of Industry Payments to US Advanced Practice Clinicians in 2021” in JAMA Network Open. He was mentored on the project by Parth Modi, MD, MS. Read the full paper here. The manuscript received additional coverage by MedPage Today.
Abigail Sneider, MS4, had a paper entitled “Two-Physician Consent in Surgery” accepted for publication in Annals of Surgery. She was mentored on the project by Peter Angelos, MD, PhD. Read the full paper here. Abigail was also selected as a 2023 Medical Fellow for the prestigious Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE) program. The program, which takes place for two weeks in Berlin and Poland this summer, challenges its Fellows to recognize their responsibility to act as ethical leaders in their medical careers
Liam Spurr, MS4, published a co-first-authored paper in JCO Precision Oncology entitled “Clinical Targeted Next-Generation Panel Sequencing Reveals MYC Amplification Is a Poor Prognostic Factor in Osteosarcoma” based on research performed prior to starting medical school. Review the full paper here. Liam was also selected to give an oral presentation on his research “Concurrent Radiation and Immunotherapy Augments Local Immunity and Improves Survival in Aneuploid NSCLC” at the ASTRO 2023 Annual Meeting. The project originated in the Summer Research Program and Scholarship & Discovery, with mentorship from Sean Pitroda, MD.
Frazer Tesema, MS2, published a first-authored paper in Health Affairs entitled “Federal Funding For Discovery And Development Of Costly HIV Drugs Was Far More Than Previously Estimated.” The paper found the U.S. government “contributed substantially to the development of a pivotal HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) treatment, tenofovir-emtricitabine (TDF-FTC) for PrEP,” leading to “questions about whether high prices for the TDF-FTC for PrEP drug regimen were justified, given the extent of US taxpayer contribution to the treatment’s development.” Read the full paper here. The paper led to coverage by The New York Times, MedPage Today, and STAT News.
Tecora Turner, MS3, won the UChicago Grad Diversity Advisory Board’s Mary S. Debose Outstanding Advocate Award for her work with the Student National Medical Association, Maria Shelter Clinic, SNMA Region 2 (Political Advocacy Liaison), and various service organizations, including Chicago Abortion Fund.
Michelle Verghese, MS2, published a paper in Pediatric Dermatology entitled “Mood changes and clinical decision making in adolescent patients on isotretinoin therapy for acne vulgaris.” The paper highlights “the importance for clinicians to regularly monitor acne patients on isotretinoin for mood changes at monthly visits,” and she was mentored on the project by Adena Rosenblatt, MD, PhD. Read the full paper here. The manuscript received further coverage from Healio.
Lahari Vuppaladhadiam, MS1, published a paper in Cell Reports entitled “Site-1 protease inhibits mitochondrial respiration by controlling the TGF-β target gene Mss51” based on undergraduate research conducted at Washington University in St. Louis. Read the full paper here.
Allen Zhu, MSTP, gave an oral presentation entitled “Clinicopathologic Correlational Studies Between Molecular Mutation, Histologic Features, and Prognosis in Mesothelioma” at the American Society for Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in June. He will also present a poster at the International Conference of the International Mesothelioma Interest Group (iMig) in Lille, France in June, and was a co-author on two other abstracts to be presented at the conference.